Thanks to alan_at_nabeth.cxo.dec.com for his [patient] explanation,
included below:
Getty is the process that runs on serial lines to allow
someone to login. It also works with LAT lines for LAT
based terminal servers. You can find out what device is
associated with the tty device by using file(1):
% file /dev/tty09
/dev/tty09: character special (5/7) LAT #0 terminal #7
Getty is just sitting waiting for someone to type a user
name. Once it has one, it will fork a copy of login to
do authentication of that user.
Received on Tue Jan 07 1997 - 22:01:26 NZDT